
riass B-lf Xl 
Book. \A 



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THE ^^SS^^SSIJiTJ^TIOISr- 



C^k^ 



fO 



DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED IN WINDHAM, N. H 



THE NATIONAL FAST, 



JUNE 1, 1865, 



BY 

REV. LOREN THAYER, 

Pastor oj riii; I'linsBYTKRiAN Chuhch. 



BOS T O N . 

PRESS OF T. R. MARVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS STREET. 
1865. 



THIS J^SSJ^S&XJ<J'J^TT01Sr. 



DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED I IST WIISTDHAM, N. H 



THE NATIONAL FAST 



JUNE 1, 1865. 



BY 

REV. LOREN THAYER, 

Pastor oi.- thk Presbytekian Church. 



BOSTON. 

PRESS OF T, R, MARVIN & SON, 42 CONGRESS STREET. 
1865. 






j;^oJn^n» 



Fessenden Mills, Rockingham County, 
New Hampshire, June 5, 1865. 
Rev. L. Thayer : — 

Dear Sir,— It was moved, seconded, and adopted that a vote of thanks be 
tendered you for the interesting, comprehensive, and appropriate discourse, 
delivered by you on the morning of the first of June, the day set apart for a 
National Fast, in reference to the sad manner of the demise of our martyr 
President, and that a Committee be appointed to solicit a copy for publica- 
tion. 

In behalf of the Committee, 

STEPHEN FESSENDEN. 



Mr. Fessenden : — 

Dear SiV,— Your favor of the 5th inst., is received, and in reply, I would 
state, that this sermon was hastily prepared, though not without warmth of 
feeling, (for no one can dwell upon the events considered without much feel- 
ing,) and is scarcely worth printing on its own account, but I am willing to 
have it preserved as a memento of the times and scenes through which we 
are passing, and as a memorial of our loved President. Therefore, I cheer- 
fully submit it at your request. 

Truly yours, 

LOREN THAYER. 

Windham, June 6, 1865. 



10 



DISCOURSE. 



DEUTERONOMY xxvii. 24. 

CURSED BE HE THAT SMITETH HIS NEIGHBOR SECRETLY I AND ALL THE 
PEOPLE SHALL SAY, AMEN. 

There is no limit to the views that might be 
taken of the subject which is brought before us at 
this time ; a subject which cannot be exhausted, 
by all that will be said upon it to-day, or even in 
generations to come. I shall confine myself to a 
few remarks, as they arise upon the occasion. 

The character of Mr. Lincoln is a study, and not 
a well comprehended fact. This character may be 
better understood one hundred years hence, than 
it is in the present. He came up among the 
people, as a New Man, a " Novus Homo," the 
Latins would call him, who had to make his way 
up through established families, which held the 
first places in the state, and were disposed to press 
down any person who was rising from the lower 
ranks, lest they should be displaced, or eclipsed. 
He has no family name in the nation, but creates 
one by what he is and does. Although a member 
of Congress, he is not known to the country, till 



his contest with Mr. Douglas, for the office of Sen- 
ator from Illinois. Mr. Douglas's fame and rank 
in his party gave distinction and honor to his com- 
petitor. Being defeated in the election, he is a 
candidate for the sympathy and favor of his friends. 

AVhen the nomination of President is to be made, 
his section, the North-west, is entitled to the pre- 
cedence and has the strongest claim to name one 
from among themselves for the office, and their 
most prominent candidate is Mr. Lincoln. Thus 
was he called providentially from obscurity and 
placed before the public, and as Providence is still 
working, He places him in the highest office by 
a large vote. Are we in fault for voting for Mr. 
Lincoln 1 It may be supposed we voted conscien- 
ciously, and as honestly as others, and yet he was 
elected, and his election was the occasion (not the 
cause) of the rebellion. Was the North wrong in 
voting for Mr. Lincoln, though it resulted in the 
rebellion 1 I must answer in the negative. We 
were, at least, as innocent in voting for him, as 
others were in voting for their candidate. 

Providence has had a hand in this matter, and 
seeing the South ripe for rebellion, he took care 
that the occasion for it should not be wanting. 

Mr. Lincoln gives no offense to the South in his 
speeches on his route to Washington. There 
appears some want of polish in them, and that 
finish which we gain in the schools, but no 
want of principle, or sense of justice, — no want of 
charity and kindness. No word from him have I 



ever seen, which exhibited unsound morality, an 
evil temper, prejudice or passion : no railing or 
envy ; — but on the other hand, probity and gener- 
osity. How generous would he have been to the 
rebels, probably, had he lived ; more generous 
doubtless than many of his friends wished him 
to be. 

Mr. Lincoln never thirsted for Mr. Davis's blood. 
We cannot say as much for Mr. Davis, and had the 
President lived, he might have let that traitor easily 
escape out of the country, and no one of his deluded 
followers would have lost his life; very likely, such 
would have been the result. Now, how different, 
"\Ve cannot tell the end of blood. 

Mr. Lincoln's proclamations have been full of 
honesty, kindness and truth. What a contrast to 
the documents which came from Richmond ! Spe- 
cious, fair to appearance and false. It would now 
seem, that by the clear sight of reason, we might 
have predicted the doom of the rebellion, from the 
spirit and style of its proclamations ; a lying spirit 
had been given to their agents from the first. The 
great thing, and perhaps the only thing of which 
the South could with any shadow of reason accuse 
Mr. Lincoln is, his proclamation of freedom to the 
slave. He proclaimed every slave free, and made 
them free as fast as he took them. This, we believe 
he did, as a war measure, and not because he sym- 
pathized with the slave in oppression. Though he 
did thus sympathize with the slave, that was not 
the reason why he proclaimed him free. 



Did our President do wrong in this act '? or had 
he authority to do it ^ There is no document or 
constitution which specified the duty ; so there are 
many duties which are binding upon us, although 
they are not written out in so many words. There 
was no law or constitution, which commanded 
General Sherman to march through Georgia when 
he did, but it was the highest military duty. On 
the other hand, there is no law against the procla- 
mation ; no humanity against it. Slavery was both 
the cause of the rebellion and the power which 
sustained it ; therefore it must be destroyed. There 
are some technicalities of legal right, which might 
be urged against the proclamation, such as this : 
The slave was individual property, and individual 
property is safe in war, and only public property 
is liable to the Government. This is true in a 
measure. Public property is liable first, and in- 
dividual property next ; for instance, if a man's 
orchard, or his house, stand in the way of the 
cannon, it must be destroyed. If it is necessary to 
public safety, that an individual's property be 
taken, it must be taken ; though to destroy indi- 
vidual property wantonly in war is a crime, while 
Government stores and wealth are of course to be 
destroyed. If then it became necessary to the 
national existence, that the individual slave property 
be taken, it is lawful to take it. So our President 
reasoned, and thus he found permission to act out 
the feelings of his heart, which were in favor of 
Freedom. The master had no good right to his 



slave, though he had a legal, or formal right. 
This may hereafter be looked upon as the great act 
of his administration, and yet it is the act which 
has made him odious to the rebels ; it is their ex- 
cuse for unlawful warfare. They say our Govern- 
ment had the advantage in this respect, and they 
could not retaliate, and they therefore take the 
most cruel means to retaliate, starve prisoners and 
murder them, as at Fort Pillow, fire our cities, 
assassinate our Rulers, and send the pestilence 
among the army. But the Almighty has stopped 
them. He claims the right to send Pestilence, Fire 
and Death by such means, but he has not commis- 
sioned man to do it, and he has checked this mad 
endeavor. 

See the madness of the South. Our radical 
speakers said some hard things against them. 
They reply, " we will fight," and they lift the axe and 
strike the blow which brings on this deadly war. 
We see where we can take lawful advantage of 
them, and free all the slaves that come within our 
power, which is approved by the Christian world, 
by all mankind, and we believe is approved in 
Heaven. We think God commends the act of 
emancipation, that it is in answer to the prayers of 
Christians and the slaves themselves. We believe 
the word of God counsels it, " Break every yoke." 
Because we take advantage of them, which we may 
do in accordance with humanity, they will have 
advantage of us right or wrong. They resort to 
works of darkness, secret plunges of the dagger. 



8 



, . .Vie torch at mWnigW 
avson, the secret toud. of tb ^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^, 
throughout a w«Je city, th ^^ ^^, be 

dven, friend ar.d ^e, -««« ^^^,3 ,„d death, 

hurried together ru tte m d ^^ ^^.^^ ^^^ 

DO they expect, ^^J ^tiou of posterity, o 
their cause, secure the api ^^^^ ^j^^^. ^ave 

the good uporr the ear bnd ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ 

lost their cause. ^1^^^ ;,, the lower world, _ 

only of the spurts m pnson ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^,^^ 

Jse agents they ;^PP-;^*;„';,ecretly, and all the 
„an,whos»itethh>sne^l^bo^^^ plot to secretly 

people shall say, Ame". ^^ ^^3,,3,„. 

Lrn our cities, to ^'^'^tle yeXXo. fever in our 
ate our rulers, to ^ -^ *^ J^^ ^^t. It i^ the 

army, - -^^ ""^'^i 'ould be devised, arrd- 
,e.y worst measure tha CO ^^^^ ,^ The 

„f be same ™°™\'\'7;*,i, odor to it through- 
Black Hole in ^"d- ;\?,Xause prisoners wer. 
out the world --\^l^f;^,,, they suffocated. aU 
driven into a small room ^^^^ .^ ^^.^ ^^f,, 1 

except a few near a wmdo ^^ ^ ^. 

plot, one and ^VT^isoners, could murder the 
^hose who could ^t--« j;; °: .. J„d we are told by 
P,esiderrt. It is all rn ke pm .^ ^^^^^ ^^^^,,,, 

M. H. S. l^oote a -^^^ — ,,opt these meas- 
i„ the rebel caW meeUn ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^,„„ , 
uies, and apply the slow ^^.^.^^.^ ot 

o« common soldiers, g^J^nrn cities was 
„pnt The proposition to u j^^ 

Government. J- i Government. »"'■ 

„ctcd upon as a policy ot <^o ^^ ^^^ „t 

;lure IS too dark to dwell upon. 



those who did not believe the South could do such 
things. I did not believe such anger dwelt in 
Southern minds. I feel grieved for America, that 
such inhumanity should be cherished by her sons, 
and for the race, that we have grown no better 
than we were in past cruel days. 

Let us compare our good President with this 
course of procedure. How very opposite in every- 
thing. Words and deeds of kindness, " Charity 
to all and malice to none," was the spirit of his 
last inaugural message. The severest criticism I 
have heard pronounced by his political opponents 
upon that message, is, that it seemed to be preach- 
ing, or the conclusion of a sermon. Those were 
fitting words for a dying man to utter. If he had 
known he was soon to die, he could hardly have 
written a better Farewell Address. What did he 
say to the rebel commissioners for peace ? " I can- 
not acknowledge your Government; but give up 
the war, throw down your arms, surrender, and I 
promise you great pardon ; as far as I am concerned, 
I shall exercise the right to pardon liberally." 
What does Mr. Davis say] He has a secret agent 
all this while, at Washington, following this man 
with deadly weapons, who is not his foe, an 
enemy to no one, a friend to all. Such is the con- 
trast while both are in power. They have fallen, 
they both have fallen ; but how differently. One 
a martyr in a good cause, died for a noble principle 
of liberty and justice ; and all good men, and all the 
nations of the earth, from the risino- to the setting 



10 

sun, mourn his end. Never was such mourning 
made in this land for a mortal, never such honors, 
such triumphal marches for the dead. Never before 
were the nations moved to such instant and united 
grief as for the awful death of our beloved Presi- 
dent. The other party flies in disgrace from 
his fictitious throne, as an outlaw, is captured in 
disguise, and imprisoned for his crimes ; a terrible 
scene of the great tragedy : and w4iat a contrast, 
fitting contrast from fitting war and rebellion. We 
could not ask for a more triumphant end and vin- 
dication of our cause ; a proof that our principles 
of liberty are just and according to truth and 
eternal right. " O let me die the death of the 
righteous, and my last end be like his." 

Here we would pause for a moment, and consider 
what the South has gained in all this course of 
oppression and evil doing. What has the South 
gained by slavery 1 Wealth ; but how has it fled 
as mists of the morning ? Pride ; and pride has 
fitted them for destruction. Impatience and dis- 
content with a good condition ; ignorance both of 
themselves and others, and much wickedness. 
This rebellion is the final fruit of slavery. Surely 
the North is better without slavery, than the South 
with it ; and I have no doubt, it will be a good 
thiug for the South to get rid of it, even at this 
expensive rate ; and this war may prove to them 
and to us, a blessing in disguise. I hope so truly. 

What has the South gained by rebellion 1 They 



11 

have gained what evil doing will always gain in 
the end. A just punishment. " The wicked is 
snared in the work of his own hand." They are 
taken in the trap they hid for others. Had the 
people of the South pursued their own private 
business, and let each other alone, during the first 
four years of Mr. Lincoln's administration, they 
would not have suffered the loss of a jot of principle 
on his account, I think ; nor a farthing of property 
by his administration. What have they gained by 
this motion to sustain and enlarge slavery] They 
have gained the loss of the institution itself, and 
hundreds of thousands of lives. The loss of their 
peaceful homes ; and many of them, the loss of all 
their earthly substance. 

What have they gained by starving our men, 
while their prisoners ^ Infamy, as long as the 
world shall stand, and also a wicked heart and evil 
mind beyond measure ; but for themselves, not one 
iota of advantage have they gained. It has done 
our northern families great harm, but themselves 
no good ; it may bring many of the guilty instru- 
ments to the gallows, and disturb the rest of many 
in their grave. 

What advantage have they gained by firing our 
cities'? What care has Providence taken of our 
cities ! Their fires would not burn — almost a 
miracle. Beall has been executed, and others are 
imprisoned ; they have gained nothing. 

What have they gained by the murder of our 
President? Only stripes upon their own back. 



12 

The plot was successful it is true, but too successful 
for them. He died in his glory ; in the very sum- 
mit of his fame ; for his own peace, his own honor 
and good, doubtless, he died timely, though not for 
his family. The Government has not been injured 
in the least ; it has been consolidated upon a firmer 
basis, and gained many a friendly opinion abroad. 
But for the perpetrators, what have they gained, 
and the rebellion"? "Verily, I say unto you, they 
have their reward." The reward of evil doing. 
They have killed him, who would have had mercy 
on them, and now they may die without mercy. 
They have palsied the hand which would have 
signed their pardon, and now, who will plead their 
cause ? It is difficult to tell, whether the deed were 
more foolish or wicked. Folly and crime were 
united in the highest degree in the act. It has not 
injured the North, as much as it has the South. It 
has grieved the North. It was not in the power of 
man, or the evil world to bring out such weeping, 
as well as every demonstration of sorrow, as by this 
one act ; but the South is the injured party. 

They thought to do us an injury, but how mis- 
taken ; they only hurt themselves. What have they 
gained ? Better, what have they lost by the act 1 

The whole country and the world may have 
gained by the act. The utter wickedness of the 
rebellion could not be known, and if known, could 
not be proved out, so that none could deny it, 
without Mr. Lincoln's assassination and this inhu- 
man plot. Now though they gain nothing to them- 



13 

selves, and harm us little, yet they exhibit the heart 
of this rebellion, they set forth its character so that 
good men will withdraw from them their sympathy, 
B,nd quietly give them over to their fate. Such 
an exhibition of useless wickedness, men have sel- 
dom seen. These crimes take away the romance 
and the honor, that otherwise might have encircled 
the downfall of the Confederacy. 

Next, I will mention some particular providences 
which have shown that God has been on our side, 
or, at least, such as have been, essential to our 
success, as wdthout such providential interposition 
we must have failed. 

I can name only a few of the many ; time would 
fail to enumerate the whole or half the catalogue ; 
such as the arrival of the first Monitor at the exact 
time when the Merrimack was making havoc with 
our fleet, and we had not another ship in the whole 
Navy which could cope wdth so formidable an 
adversary ; innumerable have appeared such prov- 
idences. I name but few, and those of a different 
class. 

One is the fact, that the President was from the 
North-west, which served not only to bind the 
North-west to the Union, but awakened an enthu- 
siasm for the conflict, which no Eastern man could 
have aroused. The North-west has excelled us, 
not in loyalty, but in enthusiasm for the war, and 
given victory to Grant and to Sherman, in the 
South-west. There our victories began ; at Fort 
Henry, Donnelson, Corinth, Chattanooga, and 



14 



Atlanta. Since then the power of rebellion has 
rapidly waned. Great efforts have been made to 
detach the North-west from the Union, which 
might have been successful with an Eastern and 
unpopular President. 

The next providential interposition in our behalf 
is, that God gave us a man of so good heart and life; 
always strictly and rigidly moral, and besides this, 
evincing religious principle and piety. There is 
evidence, I think, that he experienced religion. 

But when God wishes to thwart the progress and 
power of a nation, one method of doing it is, to 
give that nation rulers of bad character, which 
appears to have been done for the Confederacy. 
Thanks to God, who gave us a virtuous President ! 
He has been a mighty bulwark to this nation. 
God knew the heart of President Lincoln and gave 
him to be the head of the nation, in our hour of 
greatest peril. To me it is an impressive provi- 
dential favor. 

Another striking providence is, our defeat at 
Bull Pun. It was not intended to be a permanent 
defeat, but only temporary. Harper's Ferry might 
have been first surprised and taken, and the rebels 
overthrown and discouraged at Bull Run, and the 
rebellion crushed. Then slavery would have been 
untouched, and our state restored as it was ; but the 
purposes of Providence were otherwise and deeper. 
That defeat has been seen to be providentially in 
favor of the African. God would continue the war. 



15 A 

till slavery is destroyed, and the wickedness of the 
rebels is revealed. 

The last providential interposition I allude to, is, 
the silence of the Democratic party, and to a large 
extent, their acquiescence in the measures of Gov- 
ernment. Without this co-operation, and in face 
of violent Democratic opposition we could not have 
succeeded. The South counted upon this division 
at the North, which has not been witnessed. The 
opponents of Government politically have disliked 
many measures, but have not felt bound and im- 
pelled to resort to strong or violent opposition. 
Their acquiescence and to a large extent, assistance, 
have enabled the Government to go on unimpeded. 
They have gone to the war, they have submitted to 
taxation, and have thus done the service of loyal 
citizens, which in effect has presented the South a 
united North. I believe they loved their country, 
and would not move to resist except from the 
highest sense of duty. 

By these providential favors, and the success 
which God has given us, we see the war ended, 
slavery abandoned, and the country returning to 
industrious peace. 

Just upon the eve of this brighter day, our illus- 
trious President fell by the hand of the secret 
assassin. That morning he had listened to the 
story of Lee's capture, with the surrender of the 
great rebel army, related by his son Robert, at the 
breakfast table ; no doubt, he looked upon the 
struggle as virtually over, and he and the Govern- 



A 16 

ment were safe. This may have been the first feel- 
ing of safety, which came over him, since he left 
his quiet home in Springfield, The hour of felt 
security is often the hour nearest to danger. 

" We should suspect some danger nigh, 
When we possess delight." 

I might speak of the future of the United States in 
Peace, but we could predict with more certainty if 
we knew the people would be virtuous. • 

In conclusion, — We are passing through a school 
of trials, such as seldom have visited a nation, and 
while we have felt the rod, we have received pro- 
tection from the Hand that held it. We are pre- 
served, while the Confederacy is overthrown ; and 
what is even greater, we have been preserved from 
the wickedness into which our enemies have fallen. 
How much better to fall as Mr. Lincoln has, than 
as Mr. Davis ! How much better to be murdered 
than to be the murderer ! But our Government 
has not fallen ; nor has it committed the crimes of 
the Confederacy. The starving of our men, as 
prisoners, is as bad morally, as assassination. Gen- 
eral Sherman marched through Georgia and found 
her store-houses full of grain, and yet our sons and 
brothers were dj'ing for want of bread withheld, in 
that land of plenty. There is an awful chapter of 
rebellion yet unrevealed, and it is coming out to 
light continually. Their treatment of Union men 
may be compared, to our advantage, with our treat- 
ment of secession sympathizers among us. They 



17 

have been cruel and savage to Union men ; we im- 
prisoned the open and offensive, but have done 
them no harm by violence, till the war is over, and 
some have unwisely rejoiced over the death of the 
President. 

We hear of the arrest of Gen. Lee, Governors 
Vance, Brown, and others ; they may be arrested 
as witnesses against Davis, or to open the secrets 
of secession, as much as on their own account. 
We have the archives of rebellion, and the whole 
will finally be known and read of all. 

In the mean time, we have important duties to 
perform; to pray for the President; the judges, 
who are to mete out punishment, and all our rulers, 
that wisdom may be given them, so to temper 
mercy with justice, that the highest good may be 
secured, and God feared and honored. 

Arduous duties remain to be done, and the high- 
est goodness and wisdom to be executed, and the 
people to be reformed, by this heavy chastisement 
of the Almighty. When this work shall be well 
concluded, we may rejoice in the result, but till 
then, let us walk in fear and trembling. 



My '13 



